horn, in symphonic and chamber music: see French horn.

horn, in zoology, one of a pair of structures projecting from the head of a hoofed animal, used chiefly as a weapon. In cattle, sheep, Old World antelopes, and related animals the horns are permanent and unbranched and are usually present in both sexes. They are composed of a sheath of keratin—a tough fibrous material derived from epithelial tissue—overlying a bony core projecting from the skull. In the deer family the branched structures, called antlers, are composed entirely of bone with no actual horn substance; they are usually present only in the male and are shed annually. The horns of the pronghorn have characteristics of both true horns and antlers. Rhinoceros horns are not true horn but greatly modified hair, derived entirely from the epidermis. Horns have long been used for many purposes, e.g., drinking cups, spoons, trumpets, containers for gunpowder, and combs. Carved pieces of horn have been found dating from prehistoric times. In art and religion horns symbolize power. The "horns of the altar" (Amos 3.14) symbolized divine protection. Hornlike protuberances appear on other animals, e.g., on the horned toad and the horned pout.

King Horn, probably the earliest English-language romance, written c.1250 and containing about 1,500 lines. It is by an anonymous author and is based on an earlier work in French. Emphasizing action and adventure, the poem relates the story of a heroic Scottish prince's successful fight to regain his kingdom after his expulsion by invaders.

Horn, Philip de Montmorency, count of: see Hoorn, Philip de Montmorency, count of.

Horn, Cape, headland, 1,391 ft (424 m) high, S Chile, southernmost point of South America, in the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego. It was discovered and first rounded by Willem Schouten, the Dutch navigator, on Jan. 29, 1616, and named for Hoorn in the Netherlands. Lashing storms and strong currents made "rounding the Horn" one of the great hazards of sailing-ship days. With its cold and windy climate, it is still a formidable challenge to navigation.

Horn of Africa, peninsula, NE Africa, opposite the S Arabia Peninsula. Also known as the Somali Peninsula, it encompasses Somalia and E Ethiopia and is the easternmost extension of the continent, separating the Gulf of Aden from the Indian Ocean. The term Horn of Africa is also used for the surrounding African region, consisting of the countries of Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, and, in some cases, Sudan and other neighboring nations.

Horn: see King Horn.

Golden Horn: see Istanbul.

French horn, brass wind musical instrument. Fundamentally a metal tube of narrow conical bore, it is curved into circles because of its great length. The horn ends in a wide flare. It is a development (c.1650) of the small hunting horn. Although sometimes used in a more grandiose manner, it is still employed symphonically to produce the simple woodland sound. In modern orchestras it is usually in the key of F and is a transposing instrument. The present-day French horns normally have three valves, introduced in the 19th cent. The valves supplanted crooks that were used in the 18th cent. to reduce the horn to different keys. Hand stopping and modulation are still used to control the open tone, though mutes may also be used. The first important work to call for valved horns was Halévy's opera La Juive.

English horn, musical instrument, the alto of the oboe family, pitched a fifth lower than the oboe and treated as a transposing instrument. It has a pear-shaped bell, giving it a soft, melancholy tone. The first important parts for it were written by Rossini in William Tell (1829) and by Meyerbeer in Robert le diable (1831). Other composers, notably Wagner, have used it in opera and orchestral music. The 18th-century form of the instrument was curved, whence, possibly, its misleading designation as a horn. In Britain and Europe it is often termed cor anglais.

Atherton, Gertrude Franklin (Horn), 1857-1948, American writer, b. San Francisco. She wrote a series of historical novels about California, which include The Californians (1898), Rezánov (1906), and The Ancestors (1907). Her most popular books are The Conqueror (1902), which is a fictionalized biography of Alexander Hamilton, and the sensational novel Black Oxen (1923), concerning a woman who is rejuvenated by a glandular operation and based on Atherton's own experience of glandular therapy.

Orchestral and military brass instrument, a valved circular horn with a wide bell. It is normally a transposing instrument (its music written in a different tone than its actual sound) in F. It has a wide bore and three (sometimes four) rotary valves; its conical mouthpiece produces a mellower tone than the cup-shaped mouthpieces of other brass instruments. Horns long relied on separable crooks—circular lengths of tubing that could be attached and removed rapidly—for music modulating to new keys. Since circa 1900 the standard horn has been a “double” instrument, with built-in crooks in F and B-flat that can be selected rapidly by means of a thumb valve. The modern symphony orchestra usually includes four horns. Though difficult to play and prone to producing conspicuous errors, its tone is widely admired.

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Southern extremity of South America. Located on Horn Island in the southern Tierra del Fuego archipelago, it projects south into Drake Passage. It was named Hoorn for the birthplace of Dutch navigator Willem Schouten, who rounded it in 1616. Navigation of the rough waters around the cape is hazardous, and the climate is windy and cold year-round.

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Most important Norse goddess, one of a group of fertility deities called Vanir. Her father was the sea god Njörd, and her brother and male counterpart was Freyr. She was the goddess of battle and death as well as love and fertility. Half the heroes slain in battle went to her domain, Folkvangr, the other half to Odin's Valhalla. She taught a powerful magic to the Aesir, probably involving sexuality.

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Orchestral woodwind instrument, a large oboe pitched a 5th below the ordinary oboe. It has a bent metal crook, to hold the double reed, and a bulbous bell. It is a transposing instrument (its music written in a different tone than it actually sounds) in F. It is neither English nor a horn; in its original name, cor anglais, cor (“horn”) referred to its original hornlike curved shape, but the source of anglais (“English”) is a mystery. It has remained a basically orchestral instrument since its first appearance circa 1750.

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Southern extremity of South America. Located on Horn Island in the southern Tierra del Fuego archipelago, it projects south into Drake Passage. It was named Hoorn for the birthplace of Dutch navigator Willem Schouten, who rounded it in 1616. Navigation of the rough waters around the cape is hazardous, and the climate is windy and cold year-round.

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